Mr Machray at Errol mentions (.S'eotti,eh Hort. Mein. i. 275), that he has found soot mixed with the manure given to shallot beds effectual in preventing the appearance of maggots, while the shallots were improved in size. But Mr Henderson, gardener at Delvine in Scotland, has re commended the planting of shallots in autumn, as the surest way of enabling them to escape or withstand the at tacks of these vermin, (Scottish Hurt. Mem. i. 200.) He plants his shallots about the middle of October, the ground being previously manured with old well-rotted dung mix ed with house ashes. He mentions, that he had, on one occasion, a parcel of spring planted shallots only seven feet distant from those. planted in autumn ; and that the former were totally destroyed by the maggot, while the latter proved productive and good.
Rocambole.
343. The Rocambole Scorodoprasum, L.; Ail d'Espagne of the French) is a perennial plant, indigenous to Sweden and Denmark. It has compound bulbs like garlic, but the cloves are smaller ; it sends up a, stem two feet high, which is bulbiferous. We know that the rocam bole was cultivated by Gerarde in 1596, but it was pro bably introduced long before. The cloves are used in the manner of garlic or shallot, and nearly for the same pur poses. At the top of the stem, along with the flower, in July and August, small bulbs (which have sometimes been called seeds) are produced ; these may likewise be used, and indeed they are, strictly speaking, the proper ro cam holes.
The plant may be propagated by means of either sort of bulbs ; but those or the rout are most speedily productive. They 31V commonly planted in the spring ; but in dry ground they ate put in in the autumn, the produce being in this way of a larger size. Those plants which do not push tip a flower-stem naturally produce the strongest root bulbs ; and if it is not wished that the plants should fruit, the smaller the offsets planted the better. The culture is otherwise the same as that of garlic. A few rows of ro camboleare sufficient.
Spinach.
346. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea, L.; Diecia Pentandria; Atriplices, Juss. Eftinard, F.) is an annual plant, with the leaves large, the sterns hollow, branching, and, when al lowed to produce flowers, rising two feet high. It is die cious, or the male and the female flowers are produced on different plants ; the former come in long spikes ; the lat ter appear in clusters, close to the stalk, at every joint. Spinach is the only dicecious plant cultivated for culinary use. Western Asia is the country of which our garden spinach is considered as originally a native. It has been cultivated in Britain, from the earliest times of which we possess any horticultural record, for the sake of the leaves, which are used in soups, or boiled and mashed, and served up with butter, and eggs hard done.
There are two principal varieties, the prickly-seeded, with triangular, oblong, or sagittate leaves ; and the smooth-seeded, with round or blunt leaves. The hornier is the more hardy, and is employed for winter culture ; the latter has more succulent leaves, and is preferred for summer crops.
For the winter crop, therefore, the seed of the prickly kind is sown in the beginning of August, when rains may soon be expected. A light dry bur rich soil is preferred ; and a sheltered situation is desirable. \Vhen the plants chew four leaves, the ground is hoed, and the spinach mo derately thinned ; and the hoeing is repeated, as the growth of weeds may require. In October and November, the outer leaves of the spinach are generally fit for use ; and in mild weather, during the winter and early spring, successive gatherings may thus be procured. In Febru ary, some fine dry days generally occur, and at this time the surface of the ground around the winter spinach is stirred, the plants cleaned, and finally thinned out. With due attention, the prickly spinach thus proves productive till April or May.
The first sowing of smooth-seeded or round-leaved spinach is commonly made in the end of January, on a sheltered border. This early crop, if sown broad-cast, is at first thinned out to three inches apart, and, at subse quent hoeings, to eight or ten inches. Successive sowings are made in February, March, and April, in the ordinary garden compartments, and these are at once thinned out to six or eight inches apart. In some places these crops are placed between wide rows of cabbages, as they afford a crop before the cabbages advance much in growth. Some times radish seed is sown along with them, the radishes, on the other hand, being drawn off in time to give room to the spinach. If spinach be sown late in the season, it is done only on moist clayey grounds, the quality of which, while it promotes the production of leaves, rather retards the in clination to flower ; and the sowings are repeated every fortnight. Spinach is often sown in shallow drills, about a foot asunder : this mode is more troublesome at first ; but this is compensated by the facility with which the thinning, cleaning, and gathering, are afterwards accomplished : in deed, less thinning is necessary, as drilled spinach is gene rally cut straight over like cresses. \Vhen spinach is sown in drills, between rows of other vegetables, the prickly-seeded should be preferred, even in spring, as it does not grow so large, nor spread so wide.